CHAPTER XNIT 
Insect PEsTs or GARDEN AND FIELD Crops 
Wireworms ( Elateride) 
WIREWORMs are slender, cylindrical worms, } inch to 1 inch long, 
their skin brown and shining, the segments showing plainly. They 
have three pairs of small, dark legs close to the front end of the body. 
The whole insect looks 
tough and wiry. 
They infest a variety 
of field and garden 
crops, working on or in 
the roots or tubers, and 
are especially injurious 
to corn and potatoes, 
though they attack 
freely wheat, oats, and 
other cereals. 
Fig. 67.— Adult of the Wheat Wireworm, Ayri- 
otes mancus Say. Enlarged and natural size, 
There are several — Original. 
species, differing in 
minor characters but alike in general appearance and manner of work. 
All are the larve of “click beetles,” or ‘‘ snapping beetles.”’ Ordinarily 
Fic. 68.— The Wheat Wireworm. Enlarged and nat- 
ural size. Original. 
107 
they breed in sod 
ground, the worms 
feeding on the roots 
of grasses. In such 
circumstances their 
presence is seldom 
noted, because the 
ground is so well 
filled with roots that 
